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Lent
Lent | Jo Walton
8 posts | 3 read | 12 to read
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xicanti
Lent | Jo Walton
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Pickpick

LENT is religious fiction and historical fantasy. It‘s distinctly litfic in tone but also reminiscent of 70s SFF. The main character is often portrayed elsewhere as one of history‘s great villains. There‘s a time loop. It‘s generally pretty weird.

It‘s also great, at least from where I stand. It got me thinking about religion and historiography from new angles, and it made me want to read a lot more about Savonarola.

xicanti NB: by religious fiction, I mean fiction deeply concerned with religion, not the stuff you see shelved under Inspirational. 5y
tournevis Jo would love your take on this, esp. the bit about 1970s SF 5y
41 likes1 stack add3 comments
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xicanti
Lent | Jo Walton
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70 pages to go! I should be able to finish LENT tonight, at long last. I had one day where I only scrounged enough mental energy to read a single chapter, so I feel like I‘ve been inside it forever. I hate reading slowly.

I ate some Skittles while I read a bit more. They‘re those non-rainbow Pride ones, which seems like a weird marketing choice to me but whatevs. They still taste good and they were $0.94 on clearance.

Susannah So, are the Skittles still flavored as if they had color, so you never know what the flavor will be? This is fascinating! 😁 5y
xicanti @Susannah they seem to be different flavours, but it turns out Skittles are kind of like Jello: it‘s tough to distinguish them without the colours. 5y
47 likes2 comments
blurb
xicanti
Lent | Jo Walton
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It‘s frickin miserable out right now: 12 and rainy. That‘s completely unacceptable for late August. Tonight, I have even less patience than usual with cold-lovers (ie, none).

I made my favourite warm Brussels sprout salad with bacon, tomato, and balsamic dressing to sorta cheer myself up. LENT‘s helping, too. All my reservations have melted away and I‘m now hard into it, though I‘m pretty sure I won‘t finish it tonight.

Hestapleton That looks yummy! Recipe? 5y
Jerdencon Yes - that looks so good! 5y
xicanti @Hestapleton it‘s 250g of sprouts tossed with 3 slices of chopped bacon and 1T melted coconut oil, then roasted at 200°C/400°F for about 40 minutes. The dressing is 1T olive oil, 1/2T balsamic, 1/4T lime juice, 1/4t each hot mustard and minced garlic, and some salt and pepper. I make the dressing as soon as I put the sprouts in the oven and let about 10 quartered grape tomatoes marinate in it while the rest cook. Then I combine it all & dig in! 5y
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xicanti @Jerdencon this comment came in while I was typing the recipe out! I just shared it. :) 5y
Jerdencon Thank you! 5y
Megabooks Sounds amazing!! 5y
Crazeedi @xicanti my husband is going to adore this dish, we have 6 brussel sprout plants in the garden, 😊 5y
xicanti @Jerdencon any time! 5y
xicanti @Megabooks it really, really is. 5y
xicanti @Crazeedi it‘s one of my very favourites. It‘s also easy to double so more people can have it as a full meal. 5y
47 likes11 comments
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xicanti
Lent | Jo Walton
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I like to read by book light during thunderstorms so I can properly appreciate the lightning.

I‘m now just over 100 pages into LENT, and it looks like I‘m gonna stick with it. I always think of Savonarola as one of the Villains of the Renaissance, but Jo Walton‘s fictionalized version of him has got me intrigued.

Crazeedi I love lightening and thunderstorms! 5y
xicanti @Crazeedi they‘re my favourite! 5y
54 likes2 comments
blurb
xicanti
Lent | Jo Walton
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Breakfast with a new book. To be honest, I‘ve felt ambivalent about LENT since I got it, and I‘m even leerier now I see it has a 0% Litsy rating. Still, I‘ll give it a couple chapters and see if it clicks. I‘ve got a history of loving SFF that most folks wrinkle their noses at.

Plus, I think most of my ambivalence is to do with POOR RELATIONS, a forced gender reassignment novel Walton announced a while back and I guess cancelled? It shook me.

shanaqui Hmm, odd, I liked it... guess I didn't actually put my review on Litsy, apparently. I didn't think it was her best, but I was surprised by how quickly I went from “ugh, Savonarola“ to “hmm... interesting“, and by how much of a punch in the gut some of the sections ended with. 5y
VioletBramble I saw Jo Walton and immediately wanted to stack add this book. Then I saw the reviews. I haven‘t liked many of her recent books. I‘ll hold off on looking for this one. 5y
xicanti @shanaqui @VioletBramble I made it sixty pages in this morning, and I‘m intrigued so far. I‘m gonna stick with it a while longer. 5y
47 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
CaitlinR
Lent | Jo Walton
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Mehso-so

I really, really wanted to love this book. Girolamo Savonarola is presented as a demon who keeps trying to save Florence. He is executed again and again, enters hell, and re-emerges, with more knowledge , but not more wisdom, and lacking divine guidance.

Unfortunately, the repetition and sheer weight/length of the tale made me feel as though I too was trapped in Hell.

I‘m a big fan of Jo Walton, and I finished LENT, but ... so-so.

tournevis You are not the first to say this... 5y
rretzler That‘s too bad! 5y
shanaqui I felt like in the end we didn't see enough repetitions to give us the payoff, but then also that I'd have gone bananas if there were more repetitions! (And Jo does seem to have a bee in her bonnet about Plato and Florence, lately!) 5y
17 likes1 stack add3 comments
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shanaqui
Lent | Jo Walton
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Got about 30% read in the hairdresser. It's interesting to read this historical fantasy while also playing the Ezio games from the Assassin's Creed series -- my history is getting all muddled (such as it was to begin with for this area and period).

Would've read more, but spent the evening rewatching old episodes of The Great British Sewing Bee and finishing off this crochet lace blanket. Future snuggly reading times ahead!

rabbitprincess Beautiful! 5y
Bklover Beautiful blanket!💜 5y
Hufflepuffle What a gorgeous blanket 😍 5y
15 likes3 comments
blurb
shanaqui
Lent | Jo Walton
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It took three different retailers and two cancelled orders, but finally I have this book. Biscuit's checking... She doesn't *quite* believe it. #BunniesofLitsy

DivineDiana Sweet Biscuit! ❤️ 5y
Hufflepuffle What a beautiful bunny!!! 😍 5y
shanaqui @DivineDiana She didn't even really try to nibble it. Good bun. :D 5y
shanaqui @Hufflepuffle Biscuit will be pleased by the praise... 5y
Reviewsbylola Biscuit is a doll! 5y
17 likes5 comments